Monique van Genderen /

The Happy Lion is pleased to present new work by Los Angeles-based artist Monique van Genderen. For this exhibition van Genderen shows off her complex painting vocabulary within the boundaries of the six by four foot panel format, continuing her ongoing dialogue with abstraction. In the words of the artist:

“These paintings which read light to dark, left to right or right to left seem to be in various states of completion. Paint hangs on the surface, exposing the structure of the panel, not unlike the various states of dress a model for couture might display, showing contour and line through bone beneath the fabric. They are written on the body. If one were to read the framework of figuration underneath the impulse of abstraction one can draw certain conclusions. For that the painting itself does not need to be complete. Let’s say they have nothing to do with the figure at all, it is at least true that the works were made by a feminine hand, trying to carve out theoretical space in this world. For weaponry I resort to scale and boldness of color in order to cast about my subjectivity. Abstraction and materiality are the indicators and the language for what lies beneath.”

Monique van Genderen is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego and received her MFA from California Institute of the Arts. She has exhibited widely in museums and galleries internationally. Recent gallery shows include Galerie Michael Janssen, Berlin, Effe Arte in Milan and Voges and Partner in Franfurt. She has been the subject of solo projects with the UCLA Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, the Wexner Center for the Arts in Ohio and at Le Consortium in Dijon, France. She was also included in last summer’s Living Flowers: Ikebana and Contemporary Art, at the Japanese American National Museum. Van Genderen has been reviewed extensively in such publications as Artforum, Art in America, Tema Celeste, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. Her work is represented in museums and private collections such as the Los Angles County Museum of Art, The Albertina Museum, Vienna, The UCLA Hammer Museum, the Norton Family Foundation, and the Altoids Curiously Strong Collection, New York. The artist lives and works in Los Angeles.